U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner seeks leave of absence from House

US Congressman Anthony Weiner D-NY enters his home in New York after going to the local laundromat, taking money out of an ATM machine and saying hello at a real estate office he also received greetings and support from people on the street Saturday, June 11, 2011 (AP Photo/David Karp)

WASHINGTON (AP) —
Under pressure to resign in a sexting scandal, Rep. Anthony Weiner
announced Saturday he was entering professional treatment at an
undisclosed location and requested a leave of absence from Congress.

An
aide for the embattled New York lawmaker made the disclosure in a
statement shortly after several Democratic party leaders demanded he
quit for exchanging messages and photos ranging from sexually suggestive
to explicit with several women online.

"This sordid affair has
become an unacceptable distraction for Representative Weiner, his
family, his constituents and the House," Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz,
the party chairwoman, said in a written statement calling for the
46-year-old married lawmaker lawmaker to step down.

The House
Democratic leader, Rep. Nancy Pelosi of California, said Weiner "has the
love of his family, the confidence of his constituents and the
recognition that he needs help. I urge Congressman Weiner to seek that
help without the pressures of being a member of Congress."

Weiner's
spokeswoman, Risa Heller, said in the statement that the congressman
departed during the morning "to seek professional treatment to focus on
becoming a better husband and healthier person. In light of that, he
will request a short leave of absence from the House of Representatives
so that he can get evaluated and map out a course of treatment to make
himself well."

The statement did not say where he would receive
treatment, or what type was involved. Others familiar with his plans
said he had left New York by air.

Also joining in calls for Weiner
to quit was Rep. Steve Israel, D-N.Y, chairman of the Democratic
Congressional Campaign Committee and a member of the party's leadership.

In
an interview, Israel said he had told Weiner in a phone call during the
day "that I was going to call on him to resign and he absorbed that.
Obviously he had much more personal and pressing issues that he was
addressing.

"He didn't give me any indication of whether he was going to resign or not," Israel said.

Pelosi also spoke with Weiner during the day to let him know that she, too, would be joining the calls for resignation.

The
developments occurred one day after Weiner acknowledged he had
exchanged online messages with a 17-year-old girl in Delaware. He said
nothing improper had passed between the two of them.

Democrats
said the concerted call for a resignation had been brewing for days, as
senior party officials concluded the scandal was interfering with their
attempts to gain political momentum in advance of the 2012 elections.

"We
had decided we were not going to have one more week of Anthony
Weinergate," said one official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to
discuss internal deliberations.

This official added that Pelosi
and Israel had spoken numerous times in the past several days with
Weiner, hoping to persuade him to step down for the good of the party,
telling him that because of the media focus on his predicament, their
attacks on a Republican Medicare proposal were largely unnoticed.

Publicly,
Pelosi, Wasserman Schultz and others had been notably reticent in the
days since Weiner held a news conference on Monday to announce he had
exchanged lewd photos, and more, with a handful of women.

On
Thursday, an X-rated photo surfaced on a website, and in response,
Weiner's office issued a statement that did not deny it had been taken
of him.

The Democratic National Committee was so eager to downplay
the controversy that earlier in the week, spokesman Brad Woodhouse
referred calls to Wasserman Schultz' House office, saying Weiner's
predicament was a congressional matter.

Her statement demanding a resignation, five days later, was issued by the DNC.

The
White House declined comment on the matter, and Sen. Chuck Schumer,
D-N.Y, his state's dominant Democrat, maintained a public silence after
an initial statement issued on Monday.

Until disclosing he was
seeking treatment, Weiner had been adamant that he would not quit
Congress and was planning to return to work with the new week.

Earlier
Saturday, he said his conduct involved "personal failings" and that he
would try not to let them get in the way of his "professional work."

Weiner
is married to Huma Abedin, a top aide to Secretary of State Hillary
Rodham Clinton, Abedin is pregnant with the couple's first child. She is
traveling with Clinton in Africa until the middle of next week.

Before Saturday's developments, at least nine Democratic House members and three senators said Weiner should resign.